I was so glad to wake up this morning from one of the worst nightmares I've ever had in 60 years! Here is a little background on me: I served a mission in Taiwan in the 70's. I have been out of the church 14 years. You would think after all this time, I would not have issues, but the dream says otherwise. In the dream, I found myself in some country I never heard of and did not speak the language at all. I was walking around with this clueless dumba$$ of a companion. She did not know where we were to stay, and she wanted to go shopping. That was when I realized I didn't have a penny and didn't know how to get money. Then we were at the Mission Pres. office, where I was begging him to please put me on a plane and just send me home. He said no. His kids were nuts and were playing on the cover of a winterized swimming pool. His wife was nuts. She and one of the kids were smoking cigarettes and she talked but made no sense.I feel better just telling this to people who understand! Thanks for lending an ear. (or eye)

Very interesting. I wonder if the wife and kid's smoking was symbolic of Mormon hypocrisy. As for the covered pool, that seems like a reference to the belief that the devil has control of the water. Your lack of money might symbolize the intellectual poverty of Mormonism. And did you mention that you felt like an alien to the local culture.

The satan dreams were always a product of having been taught as a child that we could be attacked by Satan. We were told that if he attacked us that we had to raise our arm to the square and command him to go away in the name of Jesus Christ.

But of course when you are dreaming and the devil and his minions are after you in this nightmarish hell, your arms won't work, and your mouth won't speak, and he just keeps coming and then thankfully you awake in a sweat just as he finally has you.

The back on the mission dreams are nightmarish too, but not quite as bad for me.

My husband never served a mission, but had a reoccurring night mare the 20 years he was a member.

Once a week, sometimes more, he would dream that he was in a strange city and he couldn't find me. No matter who he asked, or where he went he couldn't find me. Instead, he ex wife was around every corner. He couldn't get rid of her. She would just bitch and bitch at him, telling him to give it up. She didn't want him, but was there to taunt him anyway. (now that would be hell!)

In real life, we left the church together. He hasn't had that dream since then.

The covered pool might be symbolic of "treading on thin ice," where maybe your brain knows that being in Mormonism is dangerous for the kids and the parents are ignoring that danger, symbolically by letting them play on the cover without responsibly watching them.

My most horrible nightmares - and I have been diagnosed with PTSD, so they are a real and vivid part of my life - continue to be about my abusive ex-husband and his horrible girlfriend (we have ben divorced for more than 20 years, with no contact in all that time) and about the "career" I was shoved into that I never wanted, but had to stay in for financial reasons. I hated, loathed and feared every minute of that job, but wasn't really qualified to do anything else. I have been retired for more than a decade, but I still often have nightmares of having been transferred to a new office with an even worse manager and a horrible caseload to deal with.

A doctor was able to prescribe a drug called Prazosin, which helps tremendously with the nightmares. Now, I no longer wake up crying, shaking, chilled, soaked with sweat, with my heart rate and blood pressure going through the roof.

With Prazosin, about as unpleasant as it may get is being a few minutes late for work and not being able to find a parking place. Unpleasant, yes - but not freaking-out intolerable like the dreams used to be.

If you suffer with hideous nightmares, by all means, ask your doctor about this stuff. It doesn't work for everyone, but it has definitely helped me.

I served 19967-69. Still having nightmares. About once a month. I am in the mission field again, scared and hating every minute of it. Usually no money, no one to talk to, no clothes but struggling to make the best of it. Usually I get out of bed and try to distract myself. Slowly their effect fades with the day. At my age, I doubt they will ever go away. Gawd d*%#@! religion and double so on Mormonism.

Still, I wouldn't be who I am today, had I not been on this most amazing life journey. Now that I have resigned and am free from it, I have more love in my heart, more fun in my life, more integrity and more joy than I ever did as a member of tscc or Xanity. I am happy and feel I have finally made the transition into adulthood and I am still learning ton's of wonderful stuff. Who'd have thunk it? :)

I've been out 9 years, and until very recently I had the same recurring dream. I start the dream in Arizona, where I served my mission in 2000-02. I don't believe ANY of it any more and have made a total break from the church, but in my dream I'm not allowed to tell anyone that I don't believe. I have to do the work every day, pretending to be TBM. Then I lose my companion and end up wandering around lost in the desert or an empty city or backroad, looking to get back to Canada. My car might break down, and I'm hungry and thirsty, and I never run across another person.

I just wander and wander, looking for a way back home, until I wake up. SUPER FUN TIMES.

I used to have them fairly regularly. They would range from funny to terrifying. All of them were somewhat realistic. I would dream I was passing the sacrament. I would drop the tray and just walk out without saying a word to anyone. I would dream I was still a kid, tying my tie before church. This is not a particularly unpleasant memory for me but in the dream I would feel terrible. Miserable. Every detail would be the same as in my childhood but I would just feel like garbage.

My most frequent one was a recurring one with some minor variations. I would be either in the chapel during sacrament meeting or outside in the parking lot. No matter how hard I looked for the door or my car I just couldn't find them. At first I would be annoyed and just keep looking but would soon start to panic and frantically run around trying to find the way out. I usually woke up at that point. Not too subtle.